Grow Up Tomo
by Empire-of-the-East
Summary: Shogo confronts his older sister about how she parents her child, his nephew Tomoyuki - and has a talk with him about it too. It leads to much enlightenment into the lives of the Akujis.


Shogo Akuji. Young, handsome, and someone who not very many people - if any - messed with for good reason. One would always be able to know when it was him - his black hair gelled and spiked up with yellow dyed types, the fact he looked more like a fashion model than the son of a yakuza boss, his black and yellow custom leather clothing with unmistakable dragon decals, and his fancy Kaneda bike which was a one-of-a-kand prototype. Then again, that's one side of him; the side that a lot of people usually see. What most people don't get to see is the side of him unleashed when he's with none other than his young nephew - Tomoyuki.

Tomoyuki or "Tomo" as he's usually called, is the son of Kiyumi Akuji - Shogo's older sister. Tomo himself is best described as a young boy no younger or older than 10 years old. With Japanese facIal features, short, thick and fashionably ruffled black hair, he usually wore yellow and black just like most of his family - for this day he chose a black jacket over a yellow shirt with matching black pants - as if he was trying to replicate his uncle. It seemed to be something his uncle noticed.

"Uncle Shogo!" Tomo said as he ran towards his uncle with a happy look to his face, seeing the older relative leaning beside his bike just outside of the Akuji's residence - Tohoku Towers hotel.

"Tomo!"

The first thing Tomo did was hug Shogo after running towards him, the boy only going up to about Shogo's hips.

"Awww, how's my lil' Tomo doing?" Shogo asked, ruffling the boy's hair, after which Tomo replied:

"I'm doing great, Uncle!"

"Cool, maybe we can talk about this on my room, 'kay?"

"Awesome!" and the two then went into the hotel, walking through the front lobby to the elevator - using it to go all the way to the front. Normally Shogo liked to ride elevators on his own, in fact he often purposely pressed the close button whenever anyone else wanted to get in with him. Sole exception being his 'homies' - though Kiyumi was not an exception.

Tomo smirked seeing Shogo, sporting a usual smug grin.

"You thinking what I'm thinking?"

"Yeah!...what are you thinking?"

"Hahahaha…"

"Uncle?"

"I got you, Tomo...I got a new game that both of us can test."

"A new game? Awesome! What is it?"

"It's a surprise~"

"Okay! New Game! Yay!"

"Heheh"

Once the elevator door opened on the top floor:

"Race ya!" Tomo shouted as he ran off to Shogo's room, but before Shogo could follow after; Kiyumi showed up and stopped him by grabbing his arm.

"Moooom!" Tomo whined as he got past the initial surprise.

"Kiyumi", Shogo spoke without interest when he saw her - dressed in her usual get up with that dragon themed scarf, tight pants, heeled boots, jacket and shirt with her long hair tied in a bun - though still with a good bit of long hair going down. Her standard look.

"Tomo...what did I tell you about running in the house...with your shoes on?"

Tomo sighed:

"That it goes against tradition?"

"Exactly, that goes double for you, Shogo…"

"Oh brother" Shogo folded his arms, rolling his eyes, "Kiyumi you know I don't give a shit about that tradition crap, it's not like we were dipping the damn things in mud or anything."

"Still, it would be nice if you were responsible for a change!"

"I didn't know your name suddenly became 'our mother'. Oh wait, it didn't."

"...Tomo, take off the shoes and wait for me on my room, I have to discuss something with your uncle."

"Fine." Tomo huffed, and walked towards his room, taking off his shoes along the way. Once he was behind the door, Shogo and Kiyumi were left to 'discuss' things.

"OK, what did I do now, nee-san?" Shogo said in frustration. "Did I wake up in the wrong way? Put my pants on with the wrong foot first? "

"It's about Tomo…"

"What about him?"

"...I'm afraid that you're being a bad influence on him."

"Excuse me?"

Then, Kiyumi handed over a newspaper, Shogo swiping it from her hand and reading it: It was one of Shogo's run-ins with other gangs, and apparently he brought Tomo felt a shiver in his spine as he could feel how angry Kiyumi was for this, but after clearing his throat he looked up at her and said:

"He's going to have to learn eventually."

"YOU EXPOSED HIM TO BE KILLED!"

"BUT HE MADE IT OUT JUST FINE!" Shogo said " Tomo just got really unlucky that time when both of us went to the laundry!"

"Why didn't you have someone else handle it like you usually do with everything?!"

"Jyunichi had a cold...it was unlucky for me too!"

"You still could have left Tomo home where he would be safe! You're no better than mother when it comes to him!"

"What's that supposed to mean?!"

"Haven't you noticed! You clearly want to knowingly endanger him! Risking his life!"

"No, I don't; why can't you trust me!?"

"Because I know how you are, Shogo!"

"Come on, Tomo loves me...if it wasn't for me, his life would be dull and tasteless; as you baby him and put him in a bubble, let the little kid live!"

"I do not put him in a bubble! I protect him! Which is more than I can say for you!"

"I don't get what this has to do with me.."

While the two discussed, Tomo looked at them - peering from his room door; immediately, didn't liked the sight of his mother and his uncle arguing, like they usually do. He sighed at how common of a sight it was; so he closed the door and went to his bed, hugging his favorite stuffed animal: a yellow-orange fox.

After some moments later, Kiyumi opened the room to see Tomo, she immediately noticed the boy sad and tried to comfort him:

"Tomo…."

"*sniff**sniff*"

"Tomo, it's okay."

"No, it's not! You always argue with Uncle Shogo! Always!"

"I know, you're uncle is just so hard to deal with."

"But he's really cool."

"I know he is to you...but you have to understand…"

"Understand what?"

"Your uncle...well…"

"Yes?"

"He's...not precisely the best role model."

"How?! He's so fun and cool! I've always thought he was great!"

"Well, I'm just not sure he can be since he always endangers you!"

"But he treats me like a big kid!"

"...I don't know what are you talking about?"

Tomo explained:

"All the time, you always baby me; like I'm a toddler! I'm growing up, Mom! And you don't let me! Uncle Shogo does! He is the only one who lets me!"

"He's a bad role model!"

"How?!"

"You...you haven't seen him as me and my father sees him."

"Hmph!"

"What's the 'hmph' for?"

"Because you've never liked my uncle, and you never will!" and Tomo took his toy fox with him and exited the room - practically slamming the door behind him as he did so.

Meanwhile, Shogo was watching an old samurai movie on his bedroom's television, looking completely bored and frustrated, when he hears someone knocking at his door:

*KNOCK**KNOCK**KNOCK*

"Go away…"

"Uncle Shogo?"

"...All right." Shogo stood up from the bed and opened the door, seeing his nephew standing before him.

"S'up?"

"Can I hang with you?"

"Sure, bud; knock yourself out." and Tomo quickly rushed to the bed and jumped it, but Shogo couldn't help but become confused, seeing how Tomo soon enough got into a ball position.

"What did your mom said, this time?" Shogo asked as he joined Tomo on the bed.

"What do you think?"

"Oh boy...sit next to me."

"Okay…" and Tomo did just that.

"Seriously, what did she say?"

"That you're a bad influence on me."

Shogo rolled his eyes, and told Tomo:

"Again...yeah, she's a lost cause; but she's just a worry wart with you."

"I know! Who is she to tell me what to do?"

"Your ma?"

"Hmph."

Shogo smiled a little and held Tomo as the two were watching as Shogo continued:

"Hey, it's okay; you know she cares about you."

"How do you know?"

"It was always like this, even when we were kids; she was that bossy, although it wasn't that bad."

"Really?"

"Yep, still, she's a bossy one."

"Hahaha, how bad was she then?"

"Let me tell you a little bit more about it: Kiyumi has always been a pain of my thorn; ever since I was born, she always told me where to go or where not to go, and that I shouldn't waste the rice or that I shouldn't touch Daddy's ornamental swords. Not to mention but she always refers to me as her 'baby' brother, as if I'm some kind of baby to her."

"You're not a baby!"

"I know! But...between you and me, she can be quite the badass."

"My mom? A badass? Really?"

"Well, by that; she saved me from a bunch of nasty bullies when I was like...7."

"You had bullies?"

"Um…..yeah…..you could call them that I guess….I don't have any other words for it anyway."

"Wooooow…"

"I know." Shogo explained: "They thought I was some sort of pampered idiot and even said I cheated at baseball."

"No way! There's no way someone can cheat at baseball!"

"I know! But they claimed it, that and of course Yakuza Kids."

"Yakuza Kids?" Tomo asked,

"Well, I'm not the only son of an Oyabun" Shogo explained, "A lot of the other 'Yakuza Kids' didn't like me either. They said the same thing as those lame 'innocent' kids. Eventually it came to a day where they cornered me in the hall though…...and of course wanted to fight me…..I put up a pretty good fight but I was so outnumbered by them, that was when your mother arrived though."

"...and what happened?"

"Well, to put it bluntly, your mother single handedly took them all down, actually! I was surprised! I never thought she would be capable of doing it!"

"Wooooooah." Tomo said surprised "You said, she was a BADASS!"

"And she sure was! Though she gave me the scolding of a lifetime...she promised she wouldn't tell Mom and Dad about it."

"Really? Why did she scold you?"

"Because...um, personal reasons….heheh. But point is, your mother can be cool when she feels like it."

"You said it...I don't know if she really loves me."

"Oh trust me, she really does love you….did she ever tell you anything about what happened when you were born?"

"...I don't remember."

"I don't know if she'd want me to tell you….."

"Please? I'm curious now!"

"I don't know….."

"C'mon!"

"Alright, but don't like get mad at her for this or anything….or tell her I told you."

"Okay."

"Alright...well, it all started on this one day where I was practicing my gun firing. She went out on a date with your father on that day. From what I could gather, that date is when she got pregnant with you. Anyway, as you grew inside of her it became pretty obvious what was happening….and since she was only like sixteen at the time and not even married, your grandfather wasn't too happy at all."

"How mad was he?"

"Let's just say if he was a kaiju on that day, he'd have been Godzilla."

"...that bad?"

"Oh yeah."

"...so...what am I supposed to do now?"

"I'm not done with the story yet."

"...sorry."

Not wanting Tomo to harbor ill will towards other members of the family, Shogo watched his words a bit on this part:

"To keep things a little brief, your mother was left in a situation where she could either save your life, or save your father's life. And…..I think it's kind of obvious which one of you two she decided to save."

"She...chose me."

"Yeah."

"And what happened to Ojii-san?"

"Haha, well, he learned to tolerate your existence after you were actually born, but I don't think he's ever fully gotten over your mother having you outside of wedlock."

"Is….is that why Obaa-san hates me?"

"I….what makes you think she hates you?"

Then, Tomo starts to feel sad again, sighing and looking down:

"She calls me 'hafu trash' when you're not around…..and she's never once called me her grandson or called me by name either…..either just 'boy', 'hafu', 'trash', 'garbage', or something like that."

"What!?"

"It's true! Obaa-san thinks I'm trash!"

"What does your mother do when she does that?"

"I dunno, she always puts me in my room when she talks to her."

"Ohhhhhh." Shogo remembered now: Kiyumi's rants to her mother were pretty well-known everytime Tomo's mother said something insulting about the young kid - even if it seemed Honami didn't want to do it infront of Shogo. That or her attention simply diverted entirely to Shogo whenever he was around her.

"Yeah...I kind of understand, but...it's not all that, is it?"

"I don't know….I don't get this at all."

"I know, I know...but look, point is, your mother's better than you think she is. I know she's probably not gonna believe I told you that, haha."

"So...should I forgive her?"

"Up to you."

Tomo grumbled a little, making Shogo lightly laugh and gently nudge him.

"Uncleeee." Tomo whined cutely

"Whaaaaaaaat?" Shogo 'whined' back.

"Stop teasing me."

"Why should I? It's fun..."

"Stoooooooooooooooop!" Tomo giggled as he nudged Shogo back.

Later on, Kiyumi knocked on the room of Shogo's door, when the Ronin man opened he shushed Kiyumi before she could speak and pointed at Tomo, sleeping soundly. Taking a deep breathe, Kiyumi spoke in a whispering tone of voice:

"I thought about what you said to me, Shogo."

"And?"

"Well...I admit that I do baby Tomo a little, but someone has to make up since Mother doesn't give Tomo the love he deserves…..nor does Father give you…"

"Don't go there, Kiyumi."

"Fine…...It's just…...I don't want anything bad to happen to him."

"I just want him to build him up, who knows if he's the next leader of the Ronin."

"And you don't think you or me would come first?"

"When we can't...he will." and Shogo went inside to take the resting body of Tomo and gave it to his sister.

"I can't believe for once, you're the one that's telling me things like this."

"Neither am I…"

Kiyiumi then sighed:

"I'm sorry for saying you're a bad influence for him….it's just…..you're the closest thing he really has to a father figure and….I guess I wish sometimes that you acted more like his father would….."

"But I'm nothing like him!"

"I know…...it's just…..I'm sorry…."

"For what?"

"...I'm gonna put Tomo to bed, we'll discuss it tomorrow."

"Alrighty then, but just so you know, I'm not going to forget overnight."

"Of course you will…" and Kiyumi walks off, with his sleeping son in hand; as Shogo sighed of exasperation and closes the door of his room; knowing tomorrow it's gonna be a more heavy day….but being with Tomo, it's worth it.


End file.
